


Sparkler

by Mello_McQueen



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-03
Updated: 2009-07-03
Packaged: 2017-11-11 07:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/476025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mello_McQueen/pseuds/Mello_McQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life gets hard, but still they all have to try.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sparkler

**Author's Note:**

> written at: July 3, 2009.

i. Sometime near the end of May, Dad drops the boys off in front of a school in Millbrooke. He tells Dean he has to take care of a few things, and that he'll be back by Saturday. It's Wednesday, and they can survive a few days on their own, so Dean just nods and shoulders his bag. Dad tells him to look after Sam, just like always, and he reaches down to put a hand on the kid's head. "We'll be fine." He says, and he keeps his eyes on Dad until the man drives away and out of sight.

ii. Saturday comes and goes in a flash, and Dean can't say he's surprised by Dad's extended absence, but it makes his stomach turn to see Sam looking so dejected as he sits outside in front of the hotel door a week later watching the sun set. He puts a hand on his little brother's shoulder and tries to sound reassuring when he says: "It'll be okay, Sammy." Dad'll come back."

"Yeah, I guess. . ." Sam says, like he isn't sure, as he looks up at Dean who tries his best to smile as he helps the kid to his feet.

"Come on," He says, "time for bed."

iii. The following Saturday, Dad still hasn't come back and Sam is consumed with worry for him, though he doesn't show it. Dean is consumed with worry for themselves. It is bordering on three weeks since they've been left alone, and their food supply is running thin. As he walks Sammy to his classroom and makes a dash for his own, Dean tries to think of a way to get money on his own, but at age eleven there isn't a lot he can do. Bitterly, he wishes Dad had left them with more than an arsenal, a few cans of salt and twenty three dollars in change. Even more, he wishes Dad would come back, or just answer his phone. Dad doesn't.

iv. After a month, Dean starts to skip meals, eating only when he has to, and surviving mostly on what food he manages to steal from the school's cafeteria. When he is caught, he tries hard to come up with an excuse that doesn't implicate he and his brother's present situation, and takes his punishment in stride. After school detentions are bearable, but the look Sam gives him when he explains that he'll have to say an extra hour is not. Nor is the silent question in his little brother's eyes, that says: It's not okay. _We're_ not okay.

v. On the fourth, Dean oversleeps and as he bolts for homeroom, he tries to think of an excuse as to why he's twenty minutes late- _again_. By the time his fingers touch the doorknob, however, he's managed to come up with absolutely nothing, and feeling physically and mentally worn, he opens the door weakly and steps inside. With bleary eyes, he looks at the woman behind the desk who is new and not the old teacher that glares and sneers at Dean and calls him a problem child. This woman is different, and she smiles at him as he approaches, shushing the other students that snicker and laugh as he walks by. "Hello," she says, kindly. "You must be Dean."

vi. When the boys get home, Dad is waiting in front of the hotel looking as bad as Dean feels. No one bothers asking where he's been or what he's been doing. No one mentions how Dean hasn't eaten in almost three days, and how Sam was really starting to believe he had died. No one mentions it, but they all know it's true, as Dad smiles at them and reaches into the inside pocket of his coat. He pulls out a single metal rod, the end of which is twisted into the shape of a star, and lights it up, even though it is still bright out.

Together they watch it burn, like all their hopes and dreams.  



End file.
